Door and gate operating mechanism



March 6, 195] c, BQOTHA 7 2,544,215

DOOR AND GATE OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Sept. 13. 1947 l/VVEN ran I ATTDH/VE) Patented Mar. 6, 1 951 DQQRAND-QATEQPERATINGMEQHANISM BietcrCorne lis Bootha, Thabazim'bi, 'Rustenburg Distric'LfUnion of :SouthAfrica nplicaticn ficpicmhcr 3, li flyseliahNo- 773, 52

ihcli n cn 9 ou rica-September 21, 119.45

1 ih s in e ti lat s t d e nd sa e spe atin mechanisms operated by themovement o}! a vehicle, and more particularly to mechanism designed toopen and close vertically hinged gates of "the 'WP? nown as *farm gates.It is the object of :the invention to "provide simpie and ineggpensiyemechanism to contra; the gates, and which ensures that gates are notleft open; and in its preferred form the invention provides a means toopen-and closethe ga-teirrespective of Ethe -side of approach of thevehicle. Other objects will appear from the-fol1owing description of 'anexample of the invention which is illustrated in the attached drawingsin which .Figure 31 'is perspective view pf the assemblyShOWndnoperatingposition.

Figure 11 "is an enlarged 1ew,:in perspective. of part .gf Figure I.

Figure 1-H is a fragmentary side view, partly i i-section, ofone'striking element.

Figures and v are perspective views of modified construction, and

"Figure is a perspective view from below ofpartofFi-gurei.

The gates which are to be controlied numbered 2., and m y be double sa sh w L Figures '1 and II or, a single gate may be .controlled, the formercase being generally dealt with hereinafter. The gates are hung onevertical hinges 3 attached to gate posts 4.. Theggates swing open in thedirection of the arrows A iFigures I and IV).

The opening and closing of the gates "2 are controlled by .sets ofmechanism which are the same for each gate. and for convenience en'lyoneset willbe-descrlbed.

the g e. a single r e. th n only :Qne se o'f nechanismisprovided.

finch mechanism comprises a bpacket *5 jast with the gate and extendingbeyond it past the axisof the' hinges '3. jSajid *bracket presents twoimpact faces, 6", l, respectively, both positioned beyond the said axis,one of which ;6 is parallel to the 'plane of the gate and the other 1fwhich istransverse'thereto. To'providetheseia efil'thfi r is cq i c imly bent to sha as shown, the faces being presented by the arms 8 and 9respectively and heing arden -eagles to one another. 1

Arranged parallel with the roadway R is .a red I 0 which is slidablymounted in 'a seriesof' guides ll set into the "the roadway or into theearth adjacent that edge. Elie-rod 10 extends 'to both's'ides ofthegatepost l.

Fixed on the rod I0 is strikingistruct regene al y d i na v chstr timeng deli cated at either side of the gatepost 4. par.- 13656 of suchstructure is to gargv-ide a element I3 (Figure III) which, when the rod[0 is moved longitudinally, impacts against one of a claims. (01.misses) he :iaces ii r "1 to swing th gat p n :or closed. as the casemaybe. The structure may consist of a halt M (the head of which impactsagainst the associated face 6 or 1 and constitutes the element 13), thebQlt being slidably arranged in a block 15 mounted on the rod Ill andfixed to it by means of a set screw 16. At each of its ends I"! the rodi0 is fastened to a crank 18 or 18a (Figures it and VI) rigidly mountedon a rod 1-9 or 13;; sunk into the roadway R. and rotatably mounted in--a sleeve '20. The rod 19 or 1 9a crosses the roadway and is connectedto the cranks "i8, IBa-ateither sidegfitl Each rod -19 or 19a"has-rigidly mounted on it two plates 2|, 22 or 21a, 22a respectivelywhich are so arranged that when one of them is flush with -:the roadsurface, the other projects above the surface suitably to be troddendown by a wheel of a vehicle passing along the roadway.

The-operation of the device thus far described is "that the driver of avehicle approaching the gatei-rom either direction finds one of theplates on his side of the gate (say that marked 21-) standing :up fromthe road surface. For convenience, it is assumed that the direction of-ap.- proach is that indicated by arrow 15. He guides his vehicle for awheel to over the plate,

which is depressed. 'The rod I9 is rotated and transmits its movement tothe rods 10 which slide inthe'ir guides H in the direction opposite tothat in which the vehicle is moving, thereby causing the elements 13which are at the side of the gate "opposite to that which the vehicle isapproaching (and which are for convenience marked C) to strike againstthe faces 6 of :the

bars -'5. The impact of the elements against the faces '6 swings thegates open.

The movement of the rods 10 is transmitted also to the rod l9a throughthe cranks, l8, 18a

fast with the rod 19a, and rotation of the :rod

'l-9a causes the plate marked 2'la,whi ch hitherto has been flush withroad surfaceto be pro.- jected above the surface. Simultaneously, plate22, hitherto :depressed, is projected, and 22a, hitherto projected, isdepressed.

"The-gates heing 'nowopen, the striking face '1 :of

each deracketll is presented to its associated :ele-

3 passed through the gateway) another plate projected ready fordepression to close the gates; the pair of plates 2| and 2la.co-operating when the vehicle is moving in one direction and the plates22, 22a co-operating when the approach is from the opposite direction.

It is desirable (if not essential) to provide positive means to hold thegates in open position, in addition to the means always provided to holdthem closed. If the former means he provided, then it must be soarranged that it does not interfere with the swinging open or closed ofthe gates by the mechanism which has been described.

Dealing firstly with the means to hold the gates closed, such meansconsists, in the embodiment illustrated, of a hook 23 (Figures I and'II)pivoted on each gate at its free vertical edge, and a block 24positioned to be gravitationally engaged by the hooks when the gatesclose. A cord 25 is attached to each hook 23 towards the end of the hookremote from the pivot, passes over pulleys 26, 21' and is fastened toone of the blocks l5. The striking elements [3 which cause the gate toopen are arranged to be a small distance from their associated faces 6(about one-half inch being satisfactory) and during the movement of theelements towards the faces 6, the cords act to disengage the hooks 23from the block 24 so that,

by the time the elements meet the faces 6, the

gates are free to be swung open. On the closing of the gates, the cordsare sufficiently slack to enable the hooks to engage the block 24gravitationally.

Figures I, IV and V. In the Figure I arrangement, the means consists foreach gate of a resilient leaf 28 positioned to engage the lower edge ofthe gate and to hold it frictionally against rebound. TheFigures IV andV arrangement is intended for use in the case of a particularly heavygate, such as may be the case when only a single gate fills the gateway.In this case the leaf 29 is biassed upwardly by a compressionspring 30,and is formed with a shoulder 31' to engage the gate against rebound.The gate is freed, before the closing means becomes operative, by a shoe32 fast with the-rod l 0, which, as is shown in Figure V, engages theleaf 29 and depresses it to free the gate for closing.

. The two plates 2!, 22 or 2|a, 22a at each side of the gate are sospaced that, when a vehicle wheel passes over one of them, the otheris'out of the way of the other wheel or wheels. They may be spacedsufficiently closely or sufliciently far apart to ensure that thisoccurs, whatever the wheel auge of the vehicle.

I claim:

1. A gateecontrolling deviceof the kind operated by the passage of avehicle comprising a pedal in the road on each side of the gate in thepath of a wheel'of a vehicle using the road, a longitudinal rod parallelwith the extent of the road, a crank mechanism connecting each pedal tothe rod, and so arranged that movement of either pedal imposeslongitudinal movement on the rod and vice versa; one pedal beingprojected above the surface of the road when the other is depressed, andvice versa; two striking surfaces rigidly associated with the gate anddisplaced from the hinge axis; and two striking elements mounted on therod, each element being associated with one of the striking surfaces;one element being positioned to impact against its as- Mean to hold thegates open is illustrated in sociated surface to swing the gate openwhen one of the pedals is depressed, and the other element beingpositioned to impact-against its associated surface to swing the gateclosed when the other pedal is depressed.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which each striking element isresiliently mounted on the rod.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 comprising a bracket attached to thegate and projecting beyond the hinge axis, the bracket providing the twostriking surfaces.

4. A gate-controlling device of the kind operated by the passage of avehicle, comprising a pair of pedals in the road on each side of thegate in the path of a vehicle using the road, a longitudinal rodparallel with one another and with the length of the road, a transverserod at each side of the gate on which the pair of pedals is rigidlymounted, crank mechanisms connecting the transverse rods and thelongitudinal rod so as to convert movement of the pedals to longitudinalmovement of the rods, and vice versa; one of each pair of pedals beingprojected above the surface of the road when the other of the pair isdepressed and one of the other pair of pedals being simultaneouslyprojected and the other depressed;

- jected on depression of the first-named pedal is depressed.

5. A device as claimed in claim 4 in which each striking element isresiliently mounted on the rod.

6. A device as claimed in claim 6 comprising a bracket attached to thegate and projecting beyond the hinge axis, the bracket providing the twostriking surfaces.

7. A device as claimed in claim 6 and suitable for controlling doublegates hung on vertical hinges, including a second longitudinal rodparallel with the first longitudinal rod, and a crank mechanism betweeneach transverse rod and each longitudinal rod, two striking surfacesrigidly associated with each gate, and two striking elements on eachlongitudinal rod, one pair of striking elements and surfaces controllingone gate, and the-other pair controlling the second gate.

8. A device as claimed in claim 7 comprising a bracket attached to thegate and projecting beyond the hinge axis, the bracket providing the twostriking surfaces.

PIETER. CORNELIS BOOTHA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:v

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 690,043 Allgier Dec. 31, 19011,205,208 Holland Nov. 21, 1916 1,426,062 Harrington Aug. 15, 19222,079,919 Mowers May 11, 1937 2,424,721 'Stover July 29, 1947

